A writer I know once told me he thought the middle classes would riot if Radio 4 were unaccountably taken off air. Is he right?

That's probably true. I'd riot! But that's something I love about the network: the sense that it isn't remote. It's intimate. It's there in your bedroom.

So is being its controller your dream job?

It is wonderful. The thing that excites me is when you can feel the schedule coming together in all its depth and broadness. With the Arab Spring, we had a run of letters to the Arab world from writers, Front Row did something, we dramatised Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, there was an investigation into Mubarak's money by File on 4, and we extended some of our news programmes. The difficulty is: letting people know just how much is there.

You've been the station's controller for almost a year. How much have you achieved so far in terms of your ambitions for it?

Well, I wanted the network to have a greater international sensibility, and I feel I've made a start with that with Aung San Suu Kyi's Reith lectures. I also wanted to make it a little bit more modern and forward looking: hence the science [from October, Professor Jim Al-Khalili will present a science discussion show on Tuesdays at 9am]. I always felt science was slightly absent in the conversation. In the arts, we go straight to writers and painters and ask them to talk for themselves. In science, it's almost as if we have picked half a dozen scientists that we feel, as arts graduates, can talk. I think we should be beyond that. Let the scientists come forward! It's slightly nerve-wracking – it's nine o'clock in the morning – but then, Jim is a fantastic presenter.

Meanwhile, you've axed several long-running interview shows, among them On The Ropes and Taking a Stand. Why? Radio does set-piece interviews so beautifully.

Those programmes are the victims of their own success. That kind of interviewing has spread. You hear it on Saturday Live, Broadcasting House and Woman's Hour. But we will continue to commission interviews. If an exceptional one comes along, it can run from 9-9.30am. I'm confident we're losing formats, not interviews. It's not particularly comfortable to lose them, but Radio 4 is a live thing; it has to change sometimes.

What about Sunday nights? Some of us will miss Americana, a show that takes the listener deep into the nooks and crannies of American life.

Our research showed that on Sunday nights people feel a bit sad. I agreed with it, but then, perhaps I am just someone who never did her homework. Now we've some more research that suggests they want to relax a bit. It's a good opportunity to do more comedy. We're going to have John Finnemore, from Cabin Pressure, doing a sketch show, Rory Bremner and Sue Perkins. Americana will end with a special programme on 9/11.

Isn't the Today programme just a lot of men shouting at one another? Wouldn't it be a good idea, at the very least, to recruit another woman presenter?

I'd love to hear more women on it. I've talked to Ceri Thomas, its editor, about that, and it's his aspiration, too. But my awareness of this is tempered by the fact that we do have a lot of brilliant women presenters on Radio 4: Jane Garvey, Martha Kearney – and we will, by the way, soon be extending The World at One [which Kearney presents] to 45 minutes; the news cycle has accelerated, she has more and more to fit in, and I think this is absolutely the right thing to do. It would be more engaging to hear more women on Today, but I'm not anxious about it. These are journalists at the very top of their game. Evan [Davis] is fantastic... I try not to think in terms of gender or ethnic mix, those rigid quota ways of thinking. On Radio 4 you want quality above all else: you want whoever is the best. You want to grab them, regardless of their gender.

You've recently had a little local difficulty with the Society of Authors, which objects to the fact that you're going to prune the number of short stories on Radio 4. Is its indignation justified?

Stories are the victim of the fact that the schedule isn't infinite. But they're not that much the victim. We'll still do masses. There's been a lot of misunderstanding, so I will tell you the exact figures. We are cutting the number we broadcast on Radio 4 from 144 to 104. In addition, we will broadcast the five shortlisted stories in the National Short Story Competition, and there will be a new story strand on Radio 4 Extra from October. I reckon we'll do about 25 there. So the total loss if you are a listener is something like 10, which is not a crisis.

Are forthcoming budget cuts a worry?

Of course I'm anxious. But I honestly don't know the level of cuts we'll have to take. I guess I'm reasonably confident that Radio 4 will not have to take particularly heavy cuts. If you're talking about quality as a priority, then Radio 4 surely represents that. We will have to take a share. It's a very large shortfall, and you can't be reckless with public money. But I don't want to inhibit ambition. I'll always make money available for the big idea. I want to give over a huge chunk of the network next year to Ulysses, and we're doing Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate with Kenneth Branagh, and we will always do these kind of things.

Your predecessor, Mark Damazer, said that he sometimes faced political pressure during his time as controller. Have you felt any so far?

I haven't felt any direct pressure yet. But in terms of taking on investigations, I will not shy from that. I've already commissioned several. My background is in news, and I'm accustomed to the toughness of it.

Shortly after you arrived at Radio 4, a certain Nigel Pargetter fell off a roof. Were you prepared for the outcry this caused among The Archers fans?

I'll always remember Graham Seed [who played Nigel for almost 30 years] on Today. It was heartbreaking. "I asked the editor, why me?" he said. People feel: how dare this happen in my world, I sympathise with them. At the same time, I guess I was surprised by the passion of it. My mailbox had never been so full. But all is fair in love and war, and the listener figures are right back where they were. In fact, if anything, they're higher at lunchtimes.

Is there a major Archers storyline coming up? Specifically, will Pat Archer be sued by the parents of children who contracted E.coli from eating her organic ice cream at a gymkhana?

[With a huge grin] There are plenty of exciting things coming up. I think that's all I can say.

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